Kim Jaewon Says Kim Moonsoo's Party Leadership Bid Depends on Public Will... Currently Taking a Wait-and-See Approach

"The Cause of the Presidential Election Defeat Was the Attempted Replacement of the Candidate That Ended in Vain"

Kim Jaewon, former chief of staff to Kim Moonsoo, the People Power Party's former presidential candidate, stated on June 5 regarding Kim's potential bid for party leadership, "It depends on where the will of the party members and the general public converges."

On YTN Radio that day, Kim Jaewon said, "At the moment, we have no choice but to take a wait-and-see approach," making these remarks.

Kim Jaewon, who had posted a photo on social media the previous day of Kim Moonsoo doing pull-ups on Gwanaksan Mountain, said, "Candidate Kim has returned to being an ordinary party member and to his daily life."

Yonhap News

He stated, "Party reform efforts must be carried out in order to establish a basis for keeping the Lee Jaemyung administration in check and guiding it in the right direction," and added, "Although there will be various changes within the party during that process, whether Kim Moonsoo runs for party leadership will depend on where the will of the party members and the general public converges."

Regarding calls for the entire party leadership to resign, he said, "As the emergency leadership committee, the leadership's term ends at the end of this month, so whether or not the entire leadership resigns is not a particularly important issue." He added, "It seems that the demand is for the floor leader to step down, not the entire leadership, and that is a matter for the party's lawmakers to decide."

As the cause of the presidential election defeat, he pointed to internal divisions that emerged during the process of selecting the party's presidential candidate. Kim Jaewon said, "Despite having a support base in the conservative camp, the party suffered difficulties due to internal divisions and infighting, which ultimately amounted to internal rebellion." He pointed out, "Immediately after Kim Moonsoo was selected as the party's presidential candidate, the party leadership began working to replace him."

He continued, "Although those efforts ultimately came to nothing, in the process, the party leadership viciously maligned the presidential candidate chosen by party members and the public simply because he did not meet their demands," stressing, "That was the decisive cause of defeat."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.